1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the field of mop wringers which are used to wring water out of a mop which has threads of yarn. More particularly, the present invention relates to the field of hand-operated mop wringers which are used to wring water out of yarn mops.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Mop wringers are used for wringing mops. The majority of mop wringers currently used in general households and ordinary businesses or institutions are hand operated. A hand-operated mop wringer is usually mounted on top of a small water bucket or basket. A user can rinse a mop in the water basket and then drain the mop with the mop wringer.
A conventional hand-operated mop wringer typically includes a housing which can be mounted on top of the small water basket. The housing supports two wringer plates. The two wringer plates are oppositely disposed and spring biased in a spaced apart relationship. Each wringer plate has a plurality of small apertures for draining the water. The housing further supports a mechanism which can drive the two wringer plates moving toward each other.
The driving mechanism can be operated through a wringer handle. The wringer handle is pivotably mounted at its lower end to the housing.
To drain a mop with the mop wringer, a user first places the mop between the two wringer plates, then pushes down the upper end of the wringer handle. Each time the upper end of the wringer handle is pressed, the two wringer plates will move towards each other and squeeze the mop. When the upper end of the wringer handle is released the two wringer plates will separate and the wringer handle swings back. The user can then remove the mop from the wringer.
A significant disadvantage of mop wringers known in the prior art is that the effectiveness of the conventional hand-operated mop wringer depends on the strength of the user. To drain the mop more effectively, the user needs to push the wringer handle down harder. How hard the wringer plates squeeze the mop depends on how hard the user pushes the wringer handle. A user with less strength often has to repeat the operation several times as desired. Furthermore, the user often needs to operate the wringer handle repeatedly to drain the mop as desired.
These drawbacks of the conventional mop wringer are very undesirable for people with less physical strength, especially elderly people. Even for people with normal strength, the awkward and laborious operation of the mop wringer increases their fatigue very rapidly.
The present inventor Fred I. Morad attempted to address these issues by the creation of a semi-automatic mop wringer which was disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,274,877 which issued on Jan. 4, 1994. While the invention was a very fine innovation, the complicated mechanism was expensive to produce and was not commercially viable.
Therefore, there is a significant need for improvements in mop wringers which address the problems discussed above but at the same time is embodied in a simpler mechanical device which will be commercially viable to manufacture and sell.